The Hills Are Alive

We stick out here. Obviously. Everywhere we go we here Mzungu! Mzungu! I even answer to it now. Julie could say Mzungu and I would turn around. It never fails. Every single time we leave the school we hear it. “How are you!” in this high pitched tiny little voice floating down from the banana trees. We stop. We look around. “How are you!” now it is 3 little voices peeping out from the sugar cane. So we yell back to nothing in particular “I am fine, how are you?” “I am fine” squeak back the little voices. No matter where we are, it is the same little voice with the same little phrase. And more often than not we can never find the child that is yelling it from where ever up the mountain or down the valley they are. We stick out, they blend in. It makes me smile – I can hear the voice in my ears now.

There is one house we pass every time we go to town. We call it the Hieeeee house. Lydia, the most adorable little girl you have ever seen, probably 1 1/2 years old, lives there. I’m not sure if this is the neighborhood hangout or what, but there is always a SLEW of children sitting outside, and if they are not outside when we reach the first corner of the house, they are all outside by the time we pass. Lydia, who also might find her way into my suitcase, always yells Hieeeeeeee in this little high pitched voice – the same one we hear drifting down the mountain side everywhere we go. Hieeeee. How are you? Byeeeeeeee as she runs along the length of the house as we pass. Everyone stops to watch us walk by. Everyone waves, everyone smiles, everyone greets, everyone is happy, and everyone bursts into laughter and excitement when I bust out the little Lugisu I know. I can steal the show with hello, how are you, how is it going? Because of the people who surround it, that house is my favorite point in the walk to town.

Living here is life being the Pied Piper. Everywhere you go, slowly slowly you collect a group of children behind you. Two days ago we went for a hike, which is a concept foreign to people here. You can’t just walk around. You have to be going somewhere. Otherwise, why would you be walking? We get the most confused looks. “Where are you going?” “Just around, just for a walk to see what there is to see”. Blank stares. Either they don’t understand, highly likely, or they can’t understand why you just walk with out a destination.

Slowly, slowly one by one we began collecting people. Even a few adults. Children grazing cows and goats, playing, people just milling around were now all accompanying us on our “pointless” hike. It kills me that I don’t speak the language. There are so many things I would like to ask and learn. There we are, 3 white girls with a group of 15+ little black kids trailing behind, some running to catch up, some a comfortable distance away, others right at our heels, and a brave few more confident in English that are right in step with us.

Uganda is good for my self esteem. People are literally running just to be near me. 